Ashes
by The Great Rhapsode
Summary: A little story I made thinking about Zora Ideale's magic affinity. Catherine finds herself trying to relax, but an old acquaintance of hers, Zara, has found her and has a troubling request for her.


_**A/N: Alright, got a new Black Clover One shot and I came up with this one mainly from a small theory I had noticing how Zora had the same magic affinity as Catherine, the witch from the zombie invasion arc. Please enjoy**_

The hot summer rays beat down harshly on the forest outside of Kiten. The golden light was a pain for a young witch who was try to relax on an oversized branch. The witch was a beautiful blond known as Catherine, who lazily tried to use the brim of her hat to block out the blinding rays.

"Can't a girl get some sleep…" mutter the witch as she shifted on the branch. Forcing her eyes closed and turning away from the light. With her face now closer to the old bark of the tree, a small beetle began to crawl across her nose. With a mighty sneeze blowing the bug off, Catherine was fully awake. Nothing seemed to want her to get any sleep.

"Can't even have a lazy afternoon…" groaned Catherine as she reclined back against the tree trunk. Her gaze was shifting towards the northeast, where only a few miles away was Kiten, a small city in Clover. The silence of forest was broken by the sound of boots crushing branches on the forest floor. "What now…" whispered Catherine as she reached for her grimoire. She prepared for the worse, a hunter, another witch, but instead it was a familiar redhead.

"Please, I come in peace!" cried the approaching man. Catherine knew this man all too well, Zara Ideale. The chipper and extroverted commoner, who had dreams of joining the magic knights. She had met a few years back, during a somewhat humorous story of Zara chasing one of his escaped boars. He seemed different though, namely in appearance. His facial features were all the same, but his atrie was a different story. His usual outfit was now adorned with the robes of the Purple Orca magic knights. Hard to believe it.

"Catherine, it's you! Oh thank goodness, when I heard someone talking about witch near Kiten, I prayed it was you!" Zara said somewhat exasperated as if he had been running for quite some time.

Catherine grimaced at Zara, completely ignoring that someone had put in a warning straight to the magic knights about her. Not that she hated him, in fact, they had been friends for quite some time more than friends one could say, but certain things transpired between them. Things she didn't want to talk about.

"Well I am the most beautiful woman in the Clover Kingdom. It's only natural you'd be excited to see me." Catherine said, trying to avoid discussion on Zara's true motives.

Zara smiled brightly at her. The same wide toothy grin he had given her when first met with him covered in mud from trying to recover his boar. That same inviting smile that lured her into a conversation and struck up a friendship between the two.

"You know I always think you're beautiful, but…" paused Zara as he looked up at Catherine with a bit smaller of a smile.

"So… What's with the purple bib?" the witch said, interrupting the red head internally praying to get this conversation over with.

"Oh, this? I'm a magic knight now! Years of practice and I'm living my dreams now!" Zara exclaimed while pointing at the emblem of the Orca with pride. "But, I wanted to talk to you about Zora."

There it was. The _'certain thing'_ Catherine feared being brought up. Zara's child… Her child. The two mages had found themselves intertwined in their time together and that lovely sensation of passion washed over them many nights. Until, the news of Catherine's pregnancy. This was kept secret as Zara was located in the forsaken realm where many babies born are never recorded by hospitals and Catherine didn't trust many of those in the inner circles of the Clover Kingdom.

"What's there to talk about? You wanted to have a child and agreed to take care of him on your own and I had plans after leaving the witch's forest that you said you didn't mind me pursuing. Plain and simple!" yelling her position didn't make her feel any better. She knew she was selfish but she wasn't cut out to raise a child, especially one in the forsaken realm of Clover. When she had told the news Zara he was ecstatic. There was no hint of anxiety, he really was happy having a child with a woman that he loved, even if they weren't married. It's the childlike and hopeful attitude that drew Catherine to him in the first place and ultimately why she couldn't be with him.

Her plans were one of great ambition, to bring this kingdom to its knees. Unlike Zara, she could see what was wrong with this country and wanted to stamp it out, but she couldn't do that raising a child with a man with aspirations of becoming a knight. She had told Zara her feelings about the baby a month before giving birth. Zara was hurt, but he refused to hold Catherine back. He thought if he loved her, he shouldn't stop her.

Zara rubbed his small beard for a moment. "Well, I know we agreed on that, but now… Now I want Zora to meet you!" exclaimed Zara, his tone only slightly faltering.

Catherine began to generate a ball of ash with her magic and stare at it, using it as an excuse as to not make eye contact with the redhead.

"I was hoping that maybe you could see how brilliant he is. He's got an ash affinity just like us and he wants to start studying trap magic too. Maybe talk to him about witch culture and magic, he might look a lot like me, but I can tell he's destined to far surpass both of us." continued Zara.

Catherine continued to look her ash ball, doing her best to look disinterested.

This caused Zara to sign in somewhat defeat, "I'm not asking you to be his mother, I just want you to meet Zora, he's your son too." Zara said sounding desperate. His smile completely faded and eyes that were giving her a deathly serious stare.

Catherine remained silent. Every word Zara spoke stoked some bit of anger in her. Her son? Sure, but not something she could just stop her plans for. Why is he still talking to her?! Why can't he just leave her alone, can't he see how much resentment she had at this prospect.

"What happened Catherine? Come on we were so close, you couldn't stop us from hanging out. What changed-"

"WE HAD A CHILD TOGETHER!" Catherine yelled, interrupting Zara. This outburst caused Zara's mouth to open slightly, as he felt the full weight of the blond witch's true feelings.

Catherine collected herself. She knew she wasn't angry at Zara, she could never be. She was more angry at herself. The fact that she had been trying to ignore Zora's existence was finally eating at her. In the witches forest the title of their queen was known as the mother all witches. 'Mother' was worn like a medal of honor among her culture. Yet the idea of being one herself, made her tremble in fear. She knew that any child born would soon witness her wrath on Clover with the Midnight Sun, no way she wanted Zora to know it was his parent inflicting pain.

"I'm sorry Zara…" she said in a weary tone, "I'm not mad you or Zora I just… I know we can't be together."

Zara stood frozen. Catherine told him that long ago, but never got a true answer. And after her emotions were made clear, all he could ask was "why?"

"We can't be together because unlike you, I can see the world for what it is. This kingdom that you love so dear… I can't just linger in it." Catherine said as she tried to hide her plans on joining the eye of the midnight sun. "With you as a knight too… It's a guarantee that we can never be together…"

Zara looked down at the ground for a solid minute, hiding his face from Catherine. He then snapped his neck up with the signature grin returning to his lips, but it was clear that he must've been forcing, no matter how jolly a heart he had, no man could withstand being told that.

"Alright! I understand! I know we can't be a family or settle down, but you know I'd still like for you to meet Zora. He's going to be a super mage." Zara said almost as if nothing had happened.

Catherine was shocked at how easy Zara recovered. She could sense how sad he was, but he seemed so determined to just let her have her freedom for her goals, only asking for her to at least consider seeing their son. It reminded her of why Zara was such a kind man, but also someone she knew would get taken advantage of.

Zara turned around on his heel. "Welp, i'm off! If you change your mind, me and Zora still live at my old house. Don't feel like a stranger, you're always welcome!" Zara said cheerily as he departed, no making a single bit of eye contact as he briskly walked away.

Catherine's heart began to ache watching the redheaded mage left. "Zara…" the witch muttered, it must've been loud enough for him to hear because Zara quickly turned back to her. Looking at Zara dead in the eyes caused her lips to quiver and her heart to ache, "…I know that Zora is going to be okay. Because he has you as his father."

Zara smiled at this and without a word walked away. With his absence, Catherine began to feel hot tears roll down her cheeks. Pulling her hat's brim down to shield her eyes from the world as she quietly wept in this forest alone.

~1 year later~

In the middle of a drab graveyard, inky black magic began to spew out from the ground. A familiar blond witch exited his dark spatial magic. This portal was the work of the midnight sun's spatial mage, Valtos. He had transported the two to this drab graveyard on her request. She had just gotten the news that a scuffle against the Purple Orcas and some of the midnight sun's scouts had happened not to long ago. The fight resulted in a single casualty on the side of the Purple Orca, Zara. He was killed in battle, not by the Eye of the midnight sun, but by his own comrades.

This was disgusting. Absolutely deplorable actions. These filthy people of Clover committed against a man who only sought to defend their safety. Zara died for what? Being a commoner? Because of these filthy knights and nobles, a good man had to die for their heartless classism? All of this stoked a mighty wave of hatred in her.

Her rage began to subside when she caught sight of a young red haired boy. He had a youthful round face and big beautiful blue eyes that looked at Zara's grave with sheer despair. Just looking at him, Catherine knew he was Zora. He was her son. He was stricken with the grim reality of his sweet father being murdered and now had no one.

"Valtos…" Catherine said quietly, "I'd like to go back to base, I can't see anymore…". The spatial mage opened a the same black portal, allowing Catherine and him to leave.

"Zora…" Catherine thought, "one day, this kingdom will be reborn, and scum like those Orca will see that they are nothing greater than dirt they tread on! And Zara…" she paused, wincing at the realization that he was truly gone. No man shall ever be as good as you… I'm sorry..."


End file.
